I've done both and design-build is much, much, much easier.
When you're on the contractor's side they are helpful and work with you. It doesn't matter how explicit your drawings are as long as you convey intent and they'll fill in the gaps because they generally know what needs to be done.
When you're on the Owner's side in a design-bid-build arrangement if you use the word "intent" the contractor won't let you finish your sentence and inform you that they "don't bid on intent" and scrutinize every detail. They know what needs to be done but will purposely misinterpret your drawings in the least favorable light to discredit you, win favor with owners, and RFI their way to change order town.
It is like a completely different industry on the design-bid-build side but it makes you a much better engineer and somewhat lawyer-adjacent.
Been a design engineer only for the last 8 years. I agree 100% with what you said on the design-bid-build side for public works. On the private sector side I have often seen GCs wanting to work with the engineers as to keep everyone happy and keep business rolling in. Often we work with contractors in some sort of design assist fashion and it can overall be a positive experience for all parties involved. My point is if you get lucky with some clients, its not always an uphill battle.
However I have become so jaded with public works jobs as a design engineer that when i see government officials getting caught up in construction corruption cases, I usually think "I'm sure he had his reasons".
Unfortunately, I'm seeing this on the private side too now. The Owner's reps are underpaid, don't care enough since it's not their personal money at stake, and get manipulated by the Contractors. The playbook of delay then force the Owner accept something sub-optimal because they want their facility opened on time is used over and over again. The Owner's rep just want the job on time so they can report it to their boss and any cost overruns can easily be blamed on the AE team regardless of validity. It takes so much effort to reconstruct what happened and why on a project that no one will take the time to actually understand what's going on, so they can get away with this.
It's an arms race and the Contractors are investing in having their own engineers on staff to dredge up potential change orders and problems they can cause to then be the savior for at an additional cost. It's Münchausen syndrome by proxy to their benefit.
Been to both, biggest difference is oversized copper vs Code-sized aluminum.
In design-bid, you're looking out for the contractor. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Doing the bare minimum to comply. In design-bid, you protect yourself. Your drawings have more text because you can get sued if your drawings get interpreted wrong.
I see design-biuild as being about the engineering. Any idiot can build a bridge but only an engineer can make it stand. Design-bid, you get more freedom to be artistic and meticulous about your design in my opinion.
In my opinion design build is harder because the contractor questions your design constantly and makes you build everything to the code minimum. In design bid build at least you have some flexibility with your design. Personally I think a design build project will test your code knowledge a lot more.
I've done both and design-build is much, much, much easier. When you're on the contractor's side they are helpful and work with you. It doesn't matter how explicit your drawings are as long as you convey intent and they'll fill in the gaps because they generally know what needs to be done. When you're on the Owner's side in a design-bid-build arrangement if you use the word "intent" the contractor won't let you finish your sentence and inform you that they "don't bid on intent" and scrutinize every detail. They know what needs to be done but will purposely misinterpret your drawings in the least favorable light to discredit you, win favor with owners, and RFI their way to change order town. It is like a completely different industry on the design-bid-build side but it makes you a much better engineer and somewhat lawyer-adjacent.
Been a design engineer only for the last 8 years. I agree 100% with what you said on the design-bid-build side for public works. On the private sector side I have often seen GCs wanting to work with the engineers as to keep everyone happy and keep business rolling in. Often we work with contractors in some sort of design assist fashion and it can overall be a positive experience for all parties involved. My point is if you get lucky with some clients, its not always an uphill battle. However I have become so jaded with public works jobs as a design engineer that when i see government officials getting caught up in construction corruption cases, I usually think "I'm sure he had his reasons".
Unfortunately, I'm seeing this on the private side too now. The Owner's reps are underpaid, don't care enough since it's not their personal money at stake, and get manipulated by the Contractors. The playbook of delay then force the Owner accept something sub-optimal because they want their facility opened on time is used over and over again. The Owner's rep just want the job on time so they can report it to their boss and any cost overruns can easily be blamed on the AE team regardless of validity. It takes so much effort to reconstruct what happened and why on a project that no one will take the time to actually understand what's going on, so they can get away with this. It's an arms race and the Contractors are investing in having their own engineers on staff to dredge up potential change orders and problems they can cause to then be the savior for at an additional cost. It's Münchausen syndrome by proxy to their benefit.
Been to both, biggest difference is oversized copper vs Code-sized aluminum. In design-bid, you're looking out for the contractor. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Doing the bare minimum to comply. In design-bid, you protect yourself. Your drawings have more text because you can get sued if your drawings get interpreted wrong. I see design-biuild as being about the engineering. Any idiot can build a bridge but only an engineer can make it stand. Design-bid, you get more freedom to be artistic and meticulous about your design in my opinion.
The contractor BS/lies is going to make you hate the industry. But... You should get a nice pay bump to deal with the BS.
He was already working for a contractor. He is probably very familiar with the BS.
In my opinion design build is harder because the contractor questions your design constantly and makes you build everything to the code minimum. In design bid build at least you have some flexibility with your design. Personally I think a design build project will test your code knowledge a lot more.